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KIRKUS REVIEW

A collection of poems cries out
against prejudice encountered by immigrants and women.

The free verse
poems and prose paragraphs in Singh’s debut book urge compassion toward those who are sexually and
racially profiled. The passionate social agenda comes through most clearly in
Chapter I, “Justice and Something Sweeter.” The poet vilifies racial and sexual
divisions, xenophobia, and child labor. In particular, she laments women of
color being forced to deny their sexuality and question their societal value:
“idolized as virgins / And when lost, thrown like carcasses onto a road,” while
an Asian bride “is never told / Of her worth beyond / The gold on her neck.”
These feminist poems are among the volume’s finest, along with the riff on
Kipling’s “If” and the prose sections in Chapter II that connect to earlier
themes of racial stereotyping. For instance, the poet recalls feeling a
policeman’s eyes follow her around a mall, and gives an imagined monologue from
a Sikh man whose home was branded with racist graffiti. Other sequences are
from the points of view of rape and domestic violence victims. In every case,
Singh argues, the key to changing hateful and violent behavior is to “enlighten
the oppressor.” Most of the poems are unnamed, though their closing italicized
phrases might be considered either titles or envois. Chapter III, “Intricacies
of the Human Mind,” is a weaker, aimless section; also, too many lines begin
with “And” or “But.” Still, it contains some of the loveliest imagery,
reassuring a woman that her sadness matters: “The gossamer beads of water /
That travel down your cheek.…are sweeter than honey.” Elsewhere the vocabulary
and sentiments can be simplistic, even clichéd, as in “The world would be a
better place / If we stopped labelling people.” This perhaps reflects the
author’s youth—she’s still in high school. Moreover, the collection’s title in
no way suggests its contents or tone; it is more forceful than mellow, though
alliteration and repetition for rhetorical effect help to soften the pitch.

Flawed but zealous, this thematically
strong book of poetry denounces oppression.

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